The Church's Greatest Need!

The Church's Greatest Need!

The greatest thing the church needs in this time, is God's Holy Spirit.

You all get up plans and say, "Now, if the church were altered a little bit, it would go on better."

You think if there were different ministers, or different church order, or something else, then all would be well.

No, dear friends, the mistake does not lie there, it is that we need more of the Holy Spirit - His power and influence.

But now people are saying, "This must be altered, and that must be altered." But it would go no better unless God the Spirit should come to bless us.

You may have the same ministers, and they shall be a thousand times more useful for God, if God is pleased to bless them.

You shall have the same deacons, they shall be a thousand times more influential than they are now, when the Spirit is poured down upon them from on high.

That is the church's great lack, and until that lack be supplied, we may reform, and reform, and still be just the same.

We need the Holy Spirit, and then whatever faults there may be in our churches, they can never materially impede the progress of Christianity, when once the Spirit of the Lord God is in our midst!

All we need is the Spirit of God.

~ Charles Spurgeon~
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I cannot think little of sin, when . . .

(J.C. Ryle)

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46

Would I know how exceedingly sinful and abominable sin is in the sight of God? Where shall I see sin most fully brought out? 

Shall I turn to the history of the flood, and read how sin drowned the world? 

Shall I go to the shore of the Dead Sea, and mark what sin brought on Sodom and Gomorrah? 

No! I can find a clearer proof still! I look at the cross of Christ!

There I see that sin is so filthy and damnable, that nothing but the blood of God's own Son can wash it away! 

There I see that sin has so separated me from my holy Maker, that all the angels in Heaven could never have made peace between us. Nothing could reconcile us, short of the death of Christ. 

If I listened to the wretched talk of proud people, I might sometimes imagine that sin was not so very sinful! But I cannot think little of sin, when I look at the cross of Christ! 

"A bleeding Savior I have viewed--and now I hate my sin!" John Newton
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This alone is the vexed soul's refuge!

(Horatius Bonar, 1808-1889)

"In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!" Colossians 2:3

The one true resting-place where doubt and weariness, the stings of a pricking conscience, and the longings of an unsatisfied soul would all be quieted--is Christ Himself!
 
Not the church, but Christ. 

Not doctrine, but Christ. 

Not religious forms and ceremonies, but Christ. 

Christ the God-man . . .
  giving His life for ours,
  sealing the everlasting covenant, and
  making peace for us through the blood of His cross!

Christ the divine storehouse of all light and truth, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! 

Christ the infinite vessel--the enlightener, the teacher, the quickener, the comforter--so that out of His fullness we may receive grace upon grace.

This, this alone is the vexed soul's refuge, its rock to build on, its home to abide in--until the great tempter is bound and every conflict ended in victory.